Young, quick, athletic and exciting; That is how Kansas coach Bill Self describes the 2005-06 Jayhawks.

After losing four seniors who made up the core of last year’s team, the new-look Jayhawks have 10 underclassmen on their roster. Three of those players make up this year’s recruiting class; guards Mario Chalmers and Micah Downs and forward Julian Wright. Labeled as the fourth best recruiting class in the country by rivals.com, Self said the incoming freshmen will have an opportunity to make an impact early in the season.

“We lost a core group of seniors last year and you don’t replace seniors with freshmen and not skip a little bit of a beat,” Self said. “We are very excited about the young guys we have to replace them. Julian, Micah and Mario all have the potential to be high impact players.”

Sophomore guard Jeremy Case said Self has told the team that there will be ups and downs early in the season, but Case said his coach seemed elated about this year’s team.

“We all know how young we are, but coach says we are going to have fun, more fun than we had last year,” Case said. “You can just tell he is really excited about all of the young guys we have.”

Chalmers, Downs and Wright, all McDonald’s All-Americans, will be competing for serious playing time, maybe even starting positions. Chalmers, a 6-1 point guard from Anchorage, Alaska, averaged 26 points per game last season at Bartlett High School. Downs, a 6-8 shooting guard, averaged 24.8 points and 12 rebounds for Juanita High in Kirkland, Wash. While Wright, a 6-9 forward from Chicago Heights, Ill., averaged 14.9 points and 7.0 rebounds for Homewood-Flossmor High School.

With the addition of the athletic freshmen, Case said the Jayhawks would play much faster than last season.

“We set up offense a lot last year, but we are going to be so much quicker this year,” Case said. “I can see us running a lot more.”

Self said he expects sophomores C.J. Giles, Darnell Jackson, Sasha Kaun and Russell Robinson to pick up where they left off last season. Giles, a 6-10 center, averaged 14.5 minutes, 6.8 points and four rebounds for the Jayhawks last season. Giles started five games for the Jayhawks last season in the absence of an injured Wayne Simien.

Jackson and Kaun, who have each added about 15 pounds of muscle over the summer, are expected to compete with Giles and senior Christian Moody for minutes in the paint. Self said it was too early to tell who would win out, but that he wanted to play more guys for less minutes to create a more athletic type of game.

“I believe that Sasha and C.J have a great chance to have a big impact,” Self said. “Darnell Jackson is a guy that will be fighting Christian for minutes. I think all of them have a good chance but it is too early to so. So much depends on practices and how well the freshmen develop.”

Sophomore guard Russell Robinson, senior Jeff Hawkins and Chalmers will compete for minutes at guard. Redshirt sophomore Jeremy Case had an entire year to mature on the hardwood and said he is ready for the challenge of competing for playing time this year.

“I am just excited to have the chance to get out there and show the coaches what I can do,” Case said. “Hopefully I can help the team out.”

Transfer Roderick Stewart, who will be eligible after Christmas break, will add athleticism on the perimeter. Stewart transferred to Kansas from the University of Southern California last December, but had to sit out for a year because of NCAA rules.

Despite its youth, Self said he still had high expectations for this team.

“I want this team to be as good as it can possibly be,” Self said. “With as many young people as we have, I want our team to be patient and understand that there is going to be some good and bad early on. We’ll be inconsistent early on but by the time conference gets here, I hope we become a consistent team that is tough for everyone to deal with.”